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Movies / On DVD / The Killing of John Lennon
The Killing of John Lennon

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The Killing of John Lennon (2008)

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Reviews Counted: 31

Fresh: 11

Rotten:20

Average Rating: 4.8/10

Consensus: Despite a committed performance by newcomer Jonas Ball, The Killing of John Lennon is ultimately a flimsy character study.

Rated: Not Rated

Runtime: 1 hr 55 mins

Genre: Dramas

Theatrical Release:Jan 2, 2008 Limited

Synopsis: Writer-director Andrew Piddington (SHUTTLECOCK, THE FALL) delves deep into the mind of Mark David Chapman in THE KILLING OF JOHN LENNON. Jonas Ball makes his feature-film debut as Chapman, the... Writer-director Andrew Piddington (SHUTTLECOCK, THE FALL) delves deep into the mind of Mark David Chapman in THE KILLING OF JOHN LENNON. Jonas Ball makes his feature-film debut as Chapman, the crazed gunman who shot John Lennon on December 8, 1980. Basing his script on Chapman's own words from interviews, writings, court transcripts, and depositions, Piddington retraces the events leading up to the shooting, which reverberated around the world. He goes back three months, showing Chapman's dysfunctional relationship with his mother (Krishna Fairchild) and his inattentiveness to his wife (Mie Omori) in Honolulu, where he was living after leaving his hometown of Decatur, Georgia. Chapman soon becomes obsessed with J. D. Salinger's classic novel THE CATCHER IN THE RYE, seeing himself as fictional character Holden Caulfield, who must root out the phonies of the world. By accident, he chooses former Beatle John Lennon as his victim, ultimately reasoning that Lennon sings about imagining no possessions yet is a millionaire living in the ritzy Dakota building in New York City, so he must be brought down. Chapman buys a gun, heads to the Big Apple, and starts stalking the Dakota, gripping his copy of Lennon's comeback album, DOUBLE FANTASY, recorded with his wife, Yoko Ono. Through voice-over narration, dialogue, and poignant one-person scenes, Piddington follows Chapman's dark, dangerous descent that results in cold-blooded murder. The film is shot on location in Decatur, Honolulu, and Manhattan, at the exact spots where the actual events took place. Ball gives a quirky, deeply felt performance, part Travis Bickle in TAXI DRIVER, part Rupert Pupkin in THE KING OF COMEDY, part Valerie Solanas in I SHOT ANDY WARHOL, embodying Chapman, while Piddington manages to hold viewers in suspense even though they know what is going to happen. [More]

Starring: Jonas Ball, Krishna Fairchild, Gunter Stern, Gail Kay Bell

Starring: Jonas Ball, Krishna Fairchild, Gunter Stern, Gail Kay Bell, Mie Omori, Robert Kirk, Richard Sherman

Director: Andrew Piddington

Director: Andrew Piddington
Screenwriter: Andrew Piddington
Producer: Rakha Singh
Composer: Martin Kiszko
Studio: IFC Films

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Release:

Aug 5, 2008

[DVD Details]
 
 
  • Mark David Chapman, a 25 year old security guard in Hawaii, bought a plane ticket to New York with the intention of killing the world's greatest musician and dreamer: The Beatles' John Lennon. Camping outside Lennon's apartment in New York waiting for an autograph, Chapman's childlike obsession with this "celebrity phony" descends into madness. Both gritty and dreamy, The Killing Of John Lennon is a stunning examination of a stalker's mind just before the kill.
  • Source: Genius Productions Inc.
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    Reviews for The Killing of John Lennon

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    As the narrative lugubriously sticks to the documented events, we are served nothing more than a filmed transcript.

    Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
    06/21/08
    Matthew Sorrento
    Film Threat

    It's well-constructed and acted, but mainly just left me feeling like I needed a shower after an exercise in voyeurism surrounding an event that's still hard to watch.

    Full Review Source: Seattle Times | comment Comment
    03/21/08
    Mark Rahner
    Seattle Times

    Gets inside Chapman's head but never under his skin.

    Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
    02/15/08
    Sam Adams
    Los Angeles Times
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    Fastidiously researched, dubiously suspenseful character portrait is unable to salvage a lick of hindsight from the tragedy beyond "murderous narcissists are people too."

    Full Review Source: L.A. Weekly | comment Comment
    02/15/08
    Aaron Hillis
    L.A. Weekly
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    Despite its vivid and imaginative style, The Killing of John Lennon is tough slogging for its nearly two-hour running time.

    Full Review Source: Film Journal International | comment Comment
    01/07/08
    Eric Monder
    Film Journal International

    Even if you can forgive [director] Piddington's mangling of the basics, you will find it hard to overlook his frantic use of slo-mo, a wobbly camera, freeze frames, double exposures and a close-up of a single eye.

    Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
    01/04/08
    Kyle Smith
    New York Post
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    Though the psychic space Piddington and Ball create is certainly a terrifyingly claustrophobic place to be, it's also stultifying and banal in the way other people's crazed obsessions become after a very short while.

    Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
    01/04/08
    Ken Fox
    TV Guide's Movie Guide

    The only revelations in The Killing of John Lennon are those we could have picked up ourselves, assuming we cared enough to do so.

    Full Review Source: Newsday | comment Comment
    01/03/08
    Gene Seymour
    Newsday
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    Only slightly better than Chapter 27, it's questionable whether even the most morbidly curious John Lennon fan might have any interest in sitting through nearly two hours of this creepy lunatic.

    Full Review Source: ComingSoon.net | comment Comment
    01/03/08
    Edward Douglas
    ComingSoon.net

    [W]e have only the perspective of a madman here, and it is no more enlightening than the ramblings of any given violent schizophrenic or criminal psychotic.

    Full Review Source: Flick Filosopher | comment Comment
    01/02/08
    MaryAnn Johanson
    Flick Filosopher

    Who is the audience here, besides depraved Beatles completists?

    Full Review Source: Village Voice | comment 2 Comments
    01/02/08
    Aaron Hillis
    Village Voice
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    Unlike Chapman, The Killing of John Lennon is no phony.

    Full Review Source: New York Press | comment Comment
    01/02/08
    Eric Kohn
    New York Press

    Piddington does a beautiful balancing act, creating a movie that works both on the level of suspense and as a detailed factual chronicle.

    Full Review Source: New York Daily News | comment Comment
    01/02/08
    Jack Mathews
    New York Daily News
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    Andrew Piddington's devastating re-enactment of events leading up to, including and immediately after the murder is taken from interviews, depositions and court transcripts.

    Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
    01/02/08
    Stephen Holden
    New York Times
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    Piddington never dares to diagnose Chapman's rage, settling for Wikipedia-style objectivity dressed in the more fatuous-than-provocative manner of Robinson Devor's Zoo.

    Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | comment 1 Comment
    12/26/07
    Ed Gonzalez
    Slant Magazine

    A stunning performance by newcomer Jonas Ball in the role of Mark David Chapman, the killer of John Lennon.

    Full Review Source: Compuserve | comment Comment
    12/25/07
    Harvey S. Karten
    Compuserve

    A pertinent exploration of the relationship between celebrities and their fans in a fame-obsessed world.

    Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | comment Comment
    12/12/07
    Richard Mowe
    Boxoffice Magazine

    Charting Chapman’s relationship with The Catcher in the Rye to being quizzed after the murder, this is an engrossing study – but paper thin.

    Full Review Source: This is London | comment Comment
    12/07/07
    This is London

    This tells us precisely nothing about John Lennon and a sight too much about his killer, Mark Chapman.

    Full Review Source: Independent | comment Comment
    12/07/07
    Anthony Quinn
    Independent

    They ought to send the whole of The Killing of John Lennon up in flames.

    Full Review Source: Financial Times | comment Comment
    12/07/07
    Nigel Andrews
    Financial Times
     
     
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